Our webinar series brings together experts in the field to share their knowledge and experience with farm incubator projects across the country…
Click the links below to skip straight to the webinar you are most interested in:
Webinar 1 - Farm Incubators 101; Webinar 2 - Project Administration and Management; Webinar 3 - Curriculum Development; Webinar 4 - Marketing Support; Webinar 5 - Land and Site Management; Webinar 6 - Transitioning Farmers off the Incubator; Webinar 7 - Advocacy for Incubators; Webinar 8 - AgSquared; Webinar 9 - Metrics and Evaluation; Webinar 10 - Teaching Financial Literacy to Farmers; Webinar 11 - Recordkeeping for Incubator Farms and Farmers; NIFTI Webinar #12 - Incubator Land Management and Teaching Ecological Land Use; NIFTI Webinar #13: Incubator Policies and Guidelines; NIFTI Webinar #14: Cooperative Farming for Incubator Farm Graduates; NIFTI Webinar #15: Mainstreaming Beginning Farmers in Local Food Policy
NIFTI Webinar #1: Farm Incubators 101
This webinar covers: (a) the basic framework of our new National Farm Incubator Technical Assistance Initiative and how it can help you achieve the programmatic goals of your farm incubator project; (b) the reasons for starting a farm incubator and common strategies for meeting diverse farmer training and support goals; (c) presentations on how veteran incubator projects (New Entry, as well as our project partners ALBA, the Intervale Center, the New Farmer Develop Project, and the Big River Farms Training Program) operate successful and diverse programs; and (d) a 15 minute Q&A session regarding specific program operational practices.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #1 - Incubators 101
NIFTI Webinar #2: Farm Incubator Project Administration and Management
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) for a webinar on the basics of farm incubator project administration. Partners from the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), the New Farmer Development Project (NFDP), the International Rescue Committee's New Roots program, and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) will delve deeply into topics such as fundraising, operations and staffing, program development, and how to track and evaluate your successes over time.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #2- Project Administration and Management
NIFTI Webinar #3: Curriculum Development
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) for a webinar on developing appropriate curricula for beginning farmer training programs. Partners from the Minnesota Food Association (MNFA) Big River Farms Program, the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project (NASAP), and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) will discuss different learning modules of relevance to beginning farmers (business planning, field training topics, etc.) as well as provide examples of lesson plans, exercises and other teaching tools. We will also address teaching to populations with language barriers and how curricula fit into the broader incubator farm program structure.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #3- Curriculum Development
NIFTI Webinar #4: Marketing Support for Incubator Farmers
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) for a webinar on integrating marketing support and cooperative marketing on incubator farms. Partners from the Intervale Center, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) will discuss avenues for marketing incubator farmer's products, cooperative storage, distribution, and marketing infrastructure (food hubs), maintaining product quality, and food safety concerns.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #4- Marketing Support for Incubator Farms
Nifti Webinar #5: Land and Site Management
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) for a webinar on managing shared infrastructure and incubator sites. Partners from the Intervale Center, the New American Sustainable Agriculture Project, the International Rescue Committee and the Minnesota Food Association will discuss a wide variety of topics including leasing land, soil fertility management, infrastructure development, urban farming initiatives and general site maintenance (budget, staffing, etc.).
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #5- Land and Site Management for Incubator Farms
NIFTI Webinar #6: Transitioning Farmers Off the Incubator Site
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) for a webinar on strategies for transitioning farmers successfully onto their own farm operations. Partners from the Intervale Center, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) and the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) will discuss farmland matching programs, helping farmers access capital, and the structure and challenges of continued support for graduates.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #6 - Transitioning Farmers Off the Incubator Site
NIFTI Webinar #7: Advocacy for Incubator Farmers
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) for a webinar on strategies for engaging farmers in federal and local advocacy efforts related to beginning farmer issues. Hear from the Land Stewardship Project, the National Young Farmers Coalition, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition about how your program can make sure beginning farmers voices are heard loud and clear in the upcoming Farm Bill debates.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #7 - Advocacy for Incubator Farms and Farmers
NIFTI Webinar #8: AgSquared for Beginning Farmer Trainers
AgSquared and the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) invite you to participate in a webinar for beginning farmer educators. This is a great opportunity to learn about how AgSquared can help the farmers you work with develop their initial crop plans and keep better farm records, as well as the resources AgSquared can provide for teaching record-keeping in your beginning farmer training or farm incubator programs.
AgSquared (www.agsquared.com) is an online software package designed to help small farmers with their crop planning, farm management, and record keeping. AgSquared is based on the premise that better plans, streamlined management, and more complete records can help make farms more productive, more profitable, and more sustainable.
NIFTI Webinar #9 - Metrics and Evaluation for Farm Incubators
This webinar will focus on best practices for developing evaluation protocols for your program. Learn from the experts on how to gather data and report on outcomes. We will have presentations from: Jessie Schmidt at the University of Vermont on the “Farmer Assessment Web” tool; Maggie Donin at the Intervale Center; the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association; and NIFTI will launch its brand new resource, “The Metrics and Evaluation Toolkit for Farm Incubators”.
Slideshow: NIFTI Webinar #9 - Metrics and Evaluation for Incubator Projects
NIFTI Webinar #10 - Teaching Financial Literacy to Farmers
Join the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative (NIFTI) to learn tools and best practices for teaching financial literacy to beginning farmers. Our presenters are Julia Shanks - Julia Shanks Food Consulting, and Gary Matteson – Farm Credit Council. The webinar will focus on practical strategies for teaching farmers how to manage the financial health of their businesses.
Slideshows: Julia Shanks - Train the Trainer; Gary Matteson - Cash Flow Analysis
Spreadsheets: CSA Cash Flow Budget; Grass Fed Budgeting
NIFTI Webinar #11 - Recordkeeping for Incubator Farms and Farmers
Join the National Incubator Farm Training (NIFTI) Initiative for a webinar on record keeping for incubator farms and farmers. Learn what other projects are tracking and how they're tracking it, and get insight into why gathering data on the farm is somehow never as easy as we think it'll be. We will have presentations from Stephen Paddock at the Vermont Small Business Development Center and Nikki Seibert at Lowcountry Local First.
Slideshows: Steve Paddock - Teaching Farmers Recordkeeping; Nikki Seibert - Recordkeeping in Real Life
NIFTI Webinar #12 - Incubator Land Management and Teaching Ecological Land Use
Join the National Incubator Farm Training (NIFTI) Initiative for a webinar on Incubator Land Management and Teaching Ecological Land Use. Learn how other projects manage soil fertility and implement long-term land use plans. This webinar approaches land management from three distinct perspectives: whole-farm multigrower management, institutional sustainability, and practical implementation of a time-tested approach. Featured presentations from Nathan Harkleroad at ALBA, Peter Walker at Chatham University and Eero Ruutilla at New Entry Sustainable Farming Project
NIFTI Webinar #13: Incubator Policies and Guidelines
Join NIFTI in a conversation with leaders from three Incubator Farm Projects from across the country about the policies and guidelines that define, direct and reinforce their work. Topics to be covered include:
Pre-requisites for Participation
Required Documents
Land Assignment and Expansion
Farmer vs Program Responsibilities
Timeframe for Incubation
Transitioning Farmers Off of the Incubator
Accountability
Presenters include:
Robin Chanin, Executive Director, Global Growers Network
Maggie Donin, Beginning Farmer Specialist, The Intervale Center
Katie Kubovcik, Training Program Manager, Minnesota Food Association
NIFTI Webinar #14: Cooperative Farming for Incubator Farm Graduates
This webinar explores cooperative farming as a next-step for Incubator Farm Project participants. Lowcountry Local First shares their approach to helping their farmers consider the possibility of a cooperative farming venture. Roots Memphis discusses how cooperative farming shapes their program structure, and Thomas Beckett of Carolina Common Enterprise provides an overview of cooperative farming and highlights key considerations for moving towards cooperative farming.
Presenters include:
Nikki Seibert Kelley, Director of Sustainable Agriculture, Lowcountry Local First
Wes Riddle, Founder and Director, Roots Memphis
Thomas Beckett, co-Executive Director, Carolina Common Enterprise
NIFTI Webinar #15: Mainstreaming Beginning Farmers in Local Food Policy
This webinar explores how local food policy efforts can raise awareness of the needs of beginning farmers and create conditions favorable to help new farm businesses succeed. Advocates from three organizations will describe their recent initiatives and successes to support beginning farmers as well as provide tips on how to make the next generation of farmers and ranchers a policy priority.
Presenters include:
Eric Sannerud & Matthew Fitzgerald , Minnesota Young Farmers Coalition
Annie Heuscher , Program Director, Food and Agriculture Coalition of Missoula County
Sydney Daigle & Kim Rush Lynch, Prince George’s County Food Equity Council
Presentation slides are available here.